Mini-Reviews: We Were Liars; The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Release Date: May 13th 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press

Age Group: Young Adult

Goodreads | The Book Depository

A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

I knew only one thing about We Were Liars before I read it: it wouldn't disappoint, and it truly did not. One is better off going into this book without knowledge of anything that happens in it, because it is a book meant to be experienced with an untainted mind. All you need to know is that it involves four brilliant kids who have their entire lives ahead of them, and they also happen to spend their summers in a private island.

We Were Liars is, quite frankly, a slow book. It is lyrical and confusing, and the easily-bored may even have a hard time finishing it. It's not for everyone, and even the author herself knew that readers would either love it or hate it; there is no middle ground. But if you do start reading it, I highly suggest just going with the flow, because you are in for a shock, I promise you that. 

I honestly have no idea what more to say about this book, so I'll end this by sharing that I finished reading this in the employee's lounge of my office, and that wasn't one of my best ideas because there were tears involved.

MY FAVORITE PART is that chapter. If you've read this, you know what I mean.

P.S. I'm giving away a signed copy of this book here! ;D

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Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Author: E. Lockhart
Release Date: March 25th 2008
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Age Group: Young Adult

Goodreads | The Book Depository

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:
Debate Club.
Her father’s “bunny rabbit.”
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Laundau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take “no” for an answer.
Especially when “no” means she’s excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society.
Not when her ex boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she’s smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew’s lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way.

Disreputable History was in my TBR list for a long time, but I only got around to reading it when #ELockhartinPH was announced. Having read We Were Liars first, I thought this one sounded lighter than my first Lockhart read, and it sure was, but it actually has its own dark tone - it's very subtle, but it's there. 

But if you don't want to get too critical, then it's enough to know that this book is another brilliant contemporary from E. Lockhart. The lady sure knows how to go deep into her characters' heads, and reading this as easy as sharing stories with a friend. This is the story of a bright girl blossoming into one hell of a woman, but it also shows that just because someone's whip smart doesn't mean she has it easy. An over-active brain can just as easily be a crowded prison, and Frankie, model student and, for the most part, a good daughter though she may be, isn't quite satisfied with how her friends and family treat her. She thinks they see her as fragile and predictable, and this book is basically her going to great lengths to prove to them that she's not.

Overall, Frankie's story is entertaining and imaginative, and aside from the protagonist, we get to know a lot of delightful characters through her eyes. The ending isn't what I'd imagined it would be at all, but it wouldn't be a Lockhart book if it were.

MY FAVORITE PART is

"It is better to be alone, she figures, than to be with someone who can't see who you are."

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